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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Making Bread

I love making and decorating cookies, but second to that is making bread. When I first starting experimenting with bread, I bought a bread maker. After a while I decided to try it the old fashioned way. What a difference! For me, the kneading by hand is almost primal.The mixing of those simple ingredients together to form a loaf of bread, is theraputic. Watching it rise ( well , I don't actually sit there watching it- at least for the whole time!), shaping it, and baking in the oven as the house fills with an unrivaled smell, is an amazing feeling. ( Little things excite me!)

I love to experiment with new kinds of bread. One thing I still haven't attempted is a sour dough starter. Another two weeks and school is out so that is on my to do list for the summer vacation. This time I made two kinds of bread- a "health " bread with spelt flour and flax seeds. Delicious- those are the rounds loaves above.

The whole grain bread recipe made 4 loaves(!) so I stuck them in the freezer. Took one out yesterday , warmed it in the oven for a bit, and it was just like fresh baked.

Whole Grain Bread ( for 4 loaves- you could halve it if you don't want so much bread)
* note: If you choose to include the cracked wheat in the recipe, it needs to soak in water overnight. I didn't happen to have any at the time, so did not use it, but have done so in the past and it adds a great crunch to the bread.

9 comments:

Really enjoyed your post. Like you, I love to bake and decorate cookies and next to that, make bread! Love the way my home smells when I bake bread. Such a comfort food. You have a new follower. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog by the way. I very much appreciate it.

Ooops, forgot to mention. You should link up this post (or another if your prefer) to Tidymom's *I'm Lovin It Friday* linky event. It is a wonderful way to meet many other interesting and talented bloggers. Hope to see you there!

I hopped over from Tidymom. Your bread looks absolutely delicious. I haven't ever baked with spelt, though I have seen it in the stores. I will confess I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to knead my bread, but I agree that there is great satisfaction in baking bread.

Dear Yael,Those are beautiful loaves pictured in your post. I know exactly how you feel about working with bread dough by hand. Describing it as "primal" is so apt! Have you read Peter Reinhart's books? I love how he dwells on the more "spiritual" aspects of bread making. After all, it's such an ancient, basic, everyday practice. It definitely has almost meditative aspects, don't you think? I love it, too, as you do.--Jane :)